MICROSTRUCTURE AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF LEAF CUTICULAR WAXES IN TWO SALIX SPECIES AND THEIR HYBRID

摘要

Leaf epicuticular wax morphology and chemical composition of total cuticular waxes were studied in two Salix species (Salix alba and S.fragilis) and their hybrid (S. xrubens). A smooth wax layer with small, scattered wax structures covered the adaxial leaf surface in all three taxa. and a crustlike wax layer composed of terminally fused wax filaments was present on the abaxial surface. The leaf cuticular waxes, both epicuticular and intracuticular. were obtained by hot extraction chloroform and their analyzed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. The principal components of the waxes were primary alcohols, fatty acids, aldehydes. n-alkanes and wax esters. The qualitative composition of the waxes was quite similar but there were quantitative differences between the taxa. The epicuticular crystalline waxes are composed of very-long-chain aldehyde polymers.